xp_logs | Cain adjusts the water pipes...

[happens before Cain's first therapy session, of course.]

Cain paused on his way down the hall, noticing the deliberate throat-clearing behind him. He turned, noticing Sarah dropping down from a low-hanging pipe, apparently doing chin-ups from the sweat matting the bandage under her ribs.

"So what the hell gives you the right to talk about me like that?" she demanded, attempting to strike an intimidating pose with her five-foot-eight frame in front of the seven-foot-tall groundskeeper.

"S'cuse me?" Cain mocked, cupping a hand behind his ear. "The monster in the basement has something to say to me?"

"That!" Sarah spat out. "Treating me like I'm some kind of helpless kid. I'm not, you know." She spun past him, standing with her hands on her hips between Marko and the door to her room. Cain exhaled, then looked down at her.

"Let's see," he began, "where I come from, you have the sense to see a doctor when you're all fucked up, and you don't treat the place you're staying like shit when you're a guest. That good enough?"

"Screw you," Sarah snarled, "I'm fine, always been fine. I didn't ask for anyone to play Florence Nightengale down here."

"Yeah, you're all tough shit. Seen your type before." Cain leaned against the wall of the basement corridor, looking down at Sarah with a lazy smirk. "Doesn't need anyone, can do just fine on her own. So why's she being babysat here in a school for the 'gifted', huh?"

Sarah ran a hand through her hair. "I swear, I'd leave if they'd let me. But I can't even go home without a chaperone, so that's probably out of the question. Not that I care, really."

Cain laughed, deep and booming. "So the big dangerous badass chick likes to hang out with the 90210 of the mutant set. That's funny."

"No," Sarah shot back with a sarcastic smile, "she just likes their house. Sweet place, as long as they stay the hell out of my basement." She gulped as Cain leaned down to her level.

"Oh, it's YOUR basement now? Ripping through the sheetrock with bone spurs or bleeding all across the hallway? What's that, marking your damn territory?"

"Hey!" Sarah snapped back, "I cleaned up. And I haven't used the wall as a dartboard yet. That's what the trees outside are for." She allowed a cocky grin to creep through the defiant exterior. Slowly, Cain's face split in a grin as well.

"Yeah, you did do that, not a bad job either." He pointed at the bandage, "And you've at least got yourself doctored up, so you're not a total idiot. Hell, picking this little love nest in the basement means you're closest to the hot water heater. And speaking of which – I've got to adjust the pipes."

Sarah stepped aside, motioning to the door of the room she and Jono were sharing. "Oh, by all means. Wrench away."

Cain stepped towards the door, then paused with his hand on the doorknob. "You ain't got the kinky sex rak bolted up in there or anything, right? No weird black lights and incense?"

Sarah laughed out loud, wincing as the wound in her back seized up. "See for yourself."

Cain glanced through the doorwary. A television, a playstation, and some blankets and pillows. Bones and torn up clothes in a corner. Nothing special.

"All the scary stuff's outside. Like the christmas decorations." Sarah pointed to the garish wrapping paper and tinsel festooned around the hallway. "Which could very likely blind somebody walking by if the light wasn't burned out."

"Yeah" Cain mumbled, ducking to enter the room. "I'll put it on my list." He managed to repress a double take at how clean the room was, but a small shudder at the mixed pile of Sarah and Jono's clothes. Without a word, he went over to the far wall and began adjusting the pipes.

"That's it." He declared, "Should keep Alison and her royal ladyship in hot showers for a while. So, you two hooligans got any beer down here?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "No mini-fridge as of yet. It takes a while to smuggle all necessities down to the basement, and since Jono can't, well... the playstation and tv were higher up on the list."

Cain looked around, nodding to himself. They didn't have a bad setup down here, all things considered. The small room was actually larger than most of the second floor areas, when split between only two people.

"That back must hurt like a bitch, eh?" Cain pointed out, noticing the spots of blood visible through Sarah's bandage. She shrugged, toughing out the pain.

"No picnic. I've had worse."

"Some 'gift'," Cain joked ,"No wonder you and the jawless wonder hooked up."

"Hardly," Sarah insisted, "We're just roommates."

Cain nodded, slowly peering at the small accoutrements of the room. CDs in cracked cases, the odd bone shard here and there. "Not into playing the whole young freaks in love game?" Cain asked, "Smart move. Better off down here in the fallout shelter."

Sarah blushed, glad that Cain wasn't looking her way. "Not that I wouldn't like to." Marko turned, pointing a finger and smiling.

"Well well well, our little guerilla razor girl's heart bleeds under that armor, now?"

"Oh, fuck you. You don't know a damn thing about it." Sarah folded her arms over herself, beginning to wish for her solitude again.

"A secret, heh? I know about those. This house," Cain intoned, "it's good at keeping things secret."

The huge groundskeeper and the lanky rebel stood quietly for a moment, until Cain coughed into his fist. "Well - that's fixed. Don't go messing with the blue valve." He pointed over to the water heater. "That's the cold water control for upstairs. Especially not around, oh, nine am when the ladies hit the showers."

Sarah turned around, laughing to herself. "Wouldn't dream of it. And hey," she turned back around, but found herself alone with just the thudding echoes of footsteps down the hall.

"Thanks," she mumbled. "Asshole."